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Recipe: How to make soft-boiled eggs, Singapore coffee shop-style

July 13, 2018

A typical Singapore-style breakfast at a coffee shop often consists of soft-boiled eggs, along with kaya toast and a cup of kopi or teh.

The Singapore-style soft-boiled eggs differ from soft-boiled eggs in the West. In Singapore, our soft-boiled eggs are runny and wobbly, and you crack them open like you would a raw egg, whereas in the West, the white is almost fully cooked – the egg can be topped or peeled like a hard-boiled egg – and the yolk, gooey and runny.

Even beginner cooks can learn to make the Singapore coffee shop-style eggs at home, and you don’t even need a stove for this. Here’s how:

Step 1Fresh room temperature eggs work best because they are less likely to crack when placed in boiling water.

Step 2Place two eggs in a small pot – I prefer to use stainless steel pot – or a vessel that conducts heat well, and pour in about a litre or so of boiling water, enough for the eggs to be fully submerged.

Step 3Leave the eggs in the pot for 6 to 7 minutes, depending how runny you like the whites and yolks. You can also pour boiling water into the pot or vessel, then lower the eggs in, as I demonstrate in the video.

Step 4Use this method as a rough guide. The final cooking time depends on how large your eggs are, how big the pot is, how many eggs there are in the pot, and so forth. For instance, adjust the timing downwards if you have smaller kampung eggs. It may take a little bit of trial and error to get it right.

Step 5Crack the eggs into a bowl and serve with a dash of dark soya sauce and ground white pepper.